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Alain Prost to return to racing as Formula E team owner

Four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost is expected to be introduced as the newest team owner in the Formula E series. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Four-time Formula One world champion Alain Prost is on the verge of making a return to racing as a team owner in the Formula E electric championship which begins next year.

Invitations have been sent out to guests for an event which will take place Oct. 24 and will be hosted by Prost, Formula E's chief executive Alejandro Agag and Jean Todt, president of motorsport's governing body the FIA. The invitation is titled “Official launch of new Formula E team” and it says the hosts “have the pleasure of inviting you to the official launch of the latest Formula E team.”

Twelve years have passed since Prost last owned a team in a major motorsports series. In 1997, four years after retiring as an F1 driver, he bought the Ligier F1 team and became its team principal. The outfit was re-branded as Prost Grand Prix and its best result was a sixth-place championship finish in its debut year.

Prost GP closed its doors in 2001 after the breakdown of talks about selling it to Khaled bin Alwaleed, son of Prince Alwaleed, a Saudi Arabian billionaire who is one of the biggest single investors in blue chip businesses such as Apple, Citigroup and Disney.

Prost already has an association with Formula E as he is a brand ambassador of its technical partner, Renault. The launch event on Thursday will take place at Renault's flagship showroom in Paris and it will also be attended by Jean-Paul Driot, founder of French company Dams. Dams runs teams in the World Series by Renault, as well as F1's feeder series GP2 and its support series the Porsche Supercup.

A total of 10 teams are expected to join Formula E but only four have been announced officially so far. Lord Paul Drayson, the electric land-speed record-holder, will enter a team from a base in England. Another will be run by Chinese motorsport boss Yu Liu, and two will join from IndyCar: Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing.

The teams have been attracted by a $3.3-million annual cap on team budgets. In contrast, F1 has no cap with annual budgets reaching an average of around $200 million.

The Formula E car was launched last month at the Frankfurt motor show and is a collaboration between many famous names from F1.

Championship-winning team McLaren is making the 300-horsepower electric motor which will power the cars. Its sponsor TAG Heuer will handle the timing while former F1 supplier Michelin will provide the tires. Another F1 team, Williams, will supply the batteries.

The series will even race on F1's most famous location -- the streets of Monte Carlo in Monaco. All of the races will be held in city centers and there will be a total of 10 including two in the United States -- Los Angeles and Miami. Others will be in locations such as Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing, where the series will hold its first-ever race in September 2014.

Formula E has not yet announced who will drive for its teams but some well-known names are expected to be on the gird. Agag says that they will largely be ex-F1 drivers, with Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Brazilian champion Ayrton, hotly tipped to be one of them.